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Three UCLA rugby players were arrested early Thursday morning in Santa Monica after police say they went on a drunken, destruction rampage ... knocking down trees in a popular tourist area.

TMZ Sports has learned ... Santa Monica police were dispatched to the famed 3rd Street Promenade just after midnight ... to confront a group of males who were allegedly causing havoc, doing some unauthorized gardening, breaking holiday decorations, and screwing with a fence owned by a local business.

When cops arrived, they detained 5 men while they located surveillance video.

After watching the tape, which cops tell us captured the vandalism, all five males were arrested.

Three of those men -- listed below -- are currently seniors on the UCLA rugby squad.

- Mark Sapper, 21-year-old, 5'10", 200 lbs.
- Shane Barry, 21-year-old, 5'11", 180 lbs.
- Aiden Metzner, 22-year-old, 6'7", 230 lbs.

All 5 men, including the 3 current athletes, were hit with the same charge ... felony vandalism. Police note the men were cooperative.

If ultimately convicted, the guys face up to 1 year in county jail and/or a $10,000 fine.

The rugby season is currently in full swing ... and the team is a perfect 3-0.

Before this animal lover was a staple character on some of the most beloved television shows, she was just another cool cat feline herself for the camera in New York City, New York.

This cuddled-up cute kid got her leading role in an ensemble cast at the young age of 10 years old ... and she remained an important character -- and key member to the dysfunctional family -- in the dramatic comedy series for 10 years.

Now, she's moved on to acting as part of another famous family rebooted from a classic 1988 sitcom.

Alec Baldwin's phone might contain crucial evidence in the "Rust" shooting investigation ... at least cops think so, and that's why they now have a warrant to comb through it.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Dept. got a New Mexico judge to sign off Thursday on a search warrant for Alec's mobile phone ... a move that comes nearly 2 months after the accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, Alec told investigators about emails between head armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and himself, in which she showed him different styles of guns and knives for the film. He says he requested a bigger gun, and she showed him an antique Colt.

We know Alec was using a replica of an 1873 Colt 45 at the time of the shooting.

Remember, during his ABC interview ... Alec said he's sure he's not responsible for Halyna's death, although he wouldn't say who was. District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies begged to differ though ... saying neither Baldwin nor anyone else who had contact with the weapon was in the clear yet. She stressed the investigation was ongoing.

In the docs, cops say they're trying to gather information about the production from before filming started. They clearly feel Alec's emails and/or texts might contain some of that data. When they asked for his phone, they were told to get a warrant.

One interesting anecdote about Hannah -- during an interview with detectives, they say she said she didn't believe anyone on the "Rust" production would be malicious enough to bring live ammo on the set.

That's weird because, as we reported, her attorney told us he thinks someone sabotaged Hannah by intentionally mixing live rounds with dummy ammunition. The D.A.'s dismissed that theory.

The NFL just announced drastic changes to its COVID-19 protocols ... eliminating in-person meals and requiring more masks as cases surge across the league.

Officials announced the moves in a memo to teams on Thursday ... placing tighter restrictions on coaches and players in order to "address the increase in cases and the advent of the Omicron variant."

In addition to more masking and no more face-to-face meals ... the league is also ordering teams to conduct remote or outdoor meetings, as well as ban outside visitors on road trips.

"We will continue to strongly encourage booster shots as the most effective protection," the league added in its memo.

NFL officials also said they are looking into adjusting "return-to-participation requirements for those who have recovered from COVID-19" -- potentially opening the door for players to see the field sooner following a positive COVID test.

Of course, this all comes on the heels of the NFL seeing teams lose some of their biggest stars due to the virus -- with players like Jalen Ramsey, Odell Beckham Jr. and Baker Mayfield having all been sidelined this week due to positive tests.

The NFL contends that the changes it's proposing are grounded in data and backed by science, and that the safety of its players, coaches, personnel, and entire NFL community is the No. 1 goal.

Famed DJ Deadmau5 doesn't sound like he's buried the hatchet with old nemesis Marshmello ... because he just reignited their beef!!!

Here's the deal ... Deadmau5 was streaming on Twitch Wednesday when someone asked him if he still had problems with Marshmello, and he said he would if Marshmello "was still f****** relevant."

Translation ... their beef, which traces back to a 2016 Twitter war, is alive and well.

Deadmau5 got in a few more shots ... saying he hasn't heard of Marshmello in a "hot f****** minute" and dissing his fellow DJ for getting out of the DJ game after making a bunch of money.

It's interesting ... Marshmello claimed back in May he had no ill will towards Deadmau5 and it seemed like their beef was a thing of the past ... but it seems Deadmau5 doesn't see things the same way.

The 10 people killed at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival all suffocated to death in a crowd surge that crushed their lungs, according to the medical examiner.

The info, released more than a month after the Houston tragedy lists each of the ten victims' cause of death as "compression asphyxia." The report states each victim was pronounced dead at local hospitals. Only one of the ten had a "contributory cause" to his death of the combined toxic effects of cocaine, methamphetamine and ethanol.

Of course, the investigation of what failures led to those deaths continues. As we reported, the Astroworld stage started to be torn down Wednesday, 40 days after the concert ended.

As you know, Travis, Live Nation and other promoters are facing billions of dollars in litigation for negligence and wrongful death.

TMZ broke the story, Travis has teamed up with government officials over the last few weeks to organize a safety report for city officials across the country to use moving forward when planning large-scale music events.

Families of the victims from the show have mostly positioned their anger toward Travis, refusing his help even after he and his team had offered to help pay for funeral costs.

Todrick Hall came sooo close to winning "The Masked Singer" title, but he's not walking away empty-handed -- in fact, he's pulled off a super rare accomplishment in the singing competition.

So, if you missed Wednesday night's season finale ... Bull, aka Todrick, lost to Queen of Hearts, aka Jewel, in the closest vote in the show's history. The unmasking was pretty awesome, shocking almost all of the judges ... with the exception of Nicole Scherzinger.

Todrick and Nicole have worked together, and he told us on Thursday's "TMZ Live" ... they've actually become good friends. Still, it wasn't just his voice that gave him away. Todrick admits it was total bull scent!!!

Yes, his cologne was the giveaway, and TH gave us lowdown on which one he was rocking under that costume. Speaking of which, 'Masked' contestants always griped about producers not letting them keep the costumes -- but Todrick's clearly different.

Gwen Stefani rocked the mic for Spotify's huge end of the year bash -- singing hits from her solo career and time with No Doubt ... and TMZ has the video.

The Spotify celebration, dubbed "A Totally Normal Party for 2021," went down Tuesday at an event space in Los Angeles ... with Gwen stealing the show.

Gwen performed for 45 minutes and her set featured some of her most famous songs ... including "Just a Girl," "Hey Baby," "The Sweet Escape," "Spiderwebs," "Hollaback Girl," "Don't Speak," "It's My Life" and "Rich Girl."

The first act on stage was the USC Trojans marching band ... but Gwen was the big draw here.

Spotify's year-end party comes on the heels of their 2021 Wrapped unveiling ... you've definitely seen people share their top Spotify songs and artists on social media ... and at one point, Gwen joked about hearing she was a top Spotify artist.

Jackson Mahomes just got burnt to a crisp by a local bar in Kansas City ... being called an entitled, egotistic clout chaser who didn't earn his popularity after the Chiefs QB's brother blasted the establishment on social media.

The TikTokker went off on the SoT cocktail bar this week ... claiming he had awful service at the place while asking his 255k followers if they had similar experiences.

Word got back to SoT, which released an Ether-esque diss on Mahomes via its official Facebook page.

The whole thing is wild, but here are some notable lines:

"We are sorry that we set boundaries that you tried to ignore," the bar said. "Often times people with un-earned status and a sense of entitlement think they are above the rules and will lash out at the employee enforcing them."

That's one of the more tame burns.

"We survived a global pandemic, we’ll survive your ego," the bar continued ... going on to mention Jackson's recent controversies -- pouring water on Ravens fans and dancing on Sean Taylor's tribute in Washington.

"We are sorry you didn’t reach out to us first before taking to social media, but then again that is an expectation we would have from a mature and rational person, not someone who pours water on fans and dances on the memorials of tragically lost people for TikTok clout."

"We have not been fortunate enough to be born into a much more talented and much more famous family but we would like to think that if we did have that much luck- we would use our influence in more responsible ways."

"We hope our apology finds you well."

Sheesh!!!

Safe to say Jackson -- or the rest of the Mahomeses -- won't be back in a while.

We've reached out to Jackson and the bar for comment ... so far, no word back.

Peloton's most famous instructor is weighing in on all the drama with the "Sex and The City" reboot -- dissing the show's fashion, floating a Kim Cattrall theory and ripping Sarah Jessica Parker's response to Big's heart attack.

Cody Rigsby, the Peloton instructor fresh off his season of "Dancing With The Stars," took time out of his class to address the death on "And Just Like That ..." and all the fallout.

While responding to a user question about Peloton's involvement in the huge plot twist ... Cody went on the offensive ... saying Kim's character, Samantha, isn't on the reboot because the fashion looks aren't up to par.

As we reported ... Peloton stock took a hit after "And Just Like That" premiered ... possibly because of the scene where Big dies after riding the popular exercise bike.

Peloton then recruited Ryan Reynolds and Big actor Chris Noth for a funny spoof ad ... and now Cody says he's proud of Peloton for "responding quicker than Carrie could."

Cody usually has a part in his class where he changes his cycling shoes to tennis shoes and says he's in "Carrie Bradshaw's closet" ... but he made it clear that bit is getting the ax.

Chris Noth -- the actor who famously played Mr. Big in "Sex and the City" as well as the show's reboot -- is now facing allegations of sexual assault from two women, but Noth is coming out strong, calling the claims "categorically false."

A report from The Hollywood Reporter Thursday details the accounts of two women who say they were triggered to come forward and tell their story after seeing Noth reprise his role in the 'SATC' reboot "And Just Like That..."

Noth tells us, "The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false. These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago — no always means no — that is a line I did not cross. The encounters were consensual. It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out. I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women."

As for the allegations ... one of the women, Zoe, says she was 22 in 2004 when she and a friend met Noth -- who she'd previously spoken to -- at his apartment pool to hang out. Zoe claims Noth asked her a bunch of questions about her major before giving her a book to take a look at.

Zoe says Noth went to his apartment to take a call, and after a while, she went into his unit to return the book where she says he first kissed her and then forcefully removed her shorts and bikini bottom and raped her as she yelled "Stop!" Zoe told THR she went to the hospital, but wouldn't tell cops who had assaulted her.

A source close to Noth confirms to us that he and Zoe were flirty, but tells us the sexual encounter in his apartment was consensual and Zoe asked to meetup again.

The other woman, Lily, told THR she was 25 in 2015 when she met Noth while working at a VIP server at a NYC nightclub. Lily says the Noth invited her for dinner one night, but the two just ended up drinking and wound up back at the actor's apartment.

Lily claims they started to kiss, but Noth became much more forceful, removing his pants and sticking his penis in her mouth before having sex with her from behind.

Our Noth source confirms the meeting between the two, but says the encounter with Lily was also consensual.

Ben Affleck says his feelings are hurt because his remarks about blaming his ex-wife for his alcoholism were taken out of context from his Howard Stern interview -- although, he's not explaining what he really meant.

Ben was on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" when he addressed the blowback he's getting after his 2-hour long chat with Howard, during which he says he stressed how much he and Jennifer Garner love and respect each other.

But, he's pissed because the only thing that got headlines was this statement ... "Part of why I started drinking was because I was trapped. I was like, 'I can't leave because of my kids, but I'm not happy, what do I do?' And what I did was like drink a bottle of scotch and fall asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution."

That's verbatim -- you can hear the unedited audio above.

However, Ben told Jimmy all the stories about that comment made him look like he "was saying the exact opposite of what I had said” ... and was the "worst, most insensitive, stupid, awful guy."

Ben says during the full interview "we talked a lot about my family, divorce and alcoholism … and how you have to be accountable and loving" for the kids.

All of that is true, and the full context of the interview was that he and his ex are on great terms now -- but, Ben's upset because he doesn't want his kids to think he'd ever say anything bad about their mother.

As we told you ... his current GF, Jennifer Lopez, showed up with him at Kimmel's studio -- and her smile made it seem they were unfazed by the backlash.

Deion Sanders says Jackson State absolutely did not pay top recruit Travis Hunter to come to the school ... explaining Thursday, "We ain't got no money!"

After Prime flipped the H.S. baller from his Florida State commitment to JSU on Signing Day on Wednesday ... rumors began swirling that JSU had unloaded cash in the forms of NIL deals to get him to sign on the dotted line.

In fact, there was internet chatter that there was some kind of agreement with the nation's #1 overall recruit that involved more than $1 million.

But, Deion shot all of that down when talking with Max Kellerman, Keyshawn Johnson and Jay Williams on Thursday ... saying there was no money involved in getting Hunter to JSU.

"We didn't pay," Sanders said. "We ain't got no money! We ain't got no money! A million and a half? I heard a million and a half. And I heard Dave Portnoy over at Barstool -- that's the biggest lie I've ever heard."

"You know what that is?" the Tigers head coach continued. "That means we kicked your butt, we took what was ours. And now, you got to make up an excuse why."

"Ain't nobody giving out a million and a half. I wouldn't pay my son a million and a half! How am I going to coach a guy that's making more than me?!"

As for how Sanders says he actually got Hunter to flip to his program -- Prime told the guys he guaranteed Hunter that he'd play both ways, and he also said a visit to JSU for its homecoming game earlier this year was what really sealed the deal for the teenager.

Hunter is expected to suit up for JSU next fall ... and it ain't hard to see Deion is pumped to watch that all go down.

"The Boss" just proved why he's carried the nickname for so many years, negotiating one of the biggest deals in music history ... $500 million for his masters and publishing rights.

Bruce Springsteen and Sony just reached an agreement on the Springsteen catalog -- over 300 songs, 20 studio albums and other items for the half-a-billion price tag ... including albums like the 15-times platinum "Born in the U.S.A." and 5x platinum "The River."

For his entire career, the NJ singer released his music through Sony, but in the late 80s and 90s, he was given ownership of his records as an incentive to re-sign with the label.

According to Billboard, Springsteen had been in negotiations with Sony last month to make the album catalog purchase ... the deal comes a year after Universal Music Publishing brought Bob Dylan's publishing catalog for more than $300 mil.

Nick Cannon is on a long road to healing following the death of his 5-month-old son, Zen, who died of a malignant brain tumor earlier this month.

The "Wild 'N Out" star told folks on the "Today" show that he relied on his faith to get him through this tough time, saying, "I'm optimistic in finding the purpose through all of the pain."

As you may recall, Nick broke the devastating news on "The Nick Cannon Show" at the beginning of this month, getting very emotional talking about the final days of his son's life. Prior to that, Nick and Alyssa Scott had kept their son's health issues private.

When asked how he's doing now, Nick says he is taking it only 5 minutes at a time... "I'm so used to being upbeat and outspoken ... this was probably the most delicate and the most precious thing I've ever had to talk about."

Nick says before his diagnosis, he initially thought Zen had a minor sinus problem.

As far as mama Alyssa, Nick says he is "in awe" of her strength while dealing with such a tough loss, after carrying the baby for 9 months. He says that he tries to be there for her, but sometimes all they can do is "connect through prayer."

As we previously told you, Nick got a tattoo of his son and says that's only the beginning of what he plans to do to make sure Zen is always by his side.

The Juice is officially loose now that he's off parole early, and one person who isn't very happy about it is the sister of his slain ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.

O.J. Simpson being released into society without a parole officer's supervision is a huge downer for Tanya Brown, who tells TMZ ... the guy doesn't deserve a second chance -- especially not in Hollywood, where she thinks he'll attempt a professional comeback.

Tanya says she usually believes most folks oughta get a shot at redemption, but for her, O.J.'s not in that category -- not only because he was found liable for killing her sister, but also because she says he hasn't shown any remorse whatsoever.

He also hasn't done much to show he's changed, according to Tanya ... who insists Simpson probably doesn't think he's done anything wrong.

It's because of his enormous ego that Tanya believes he will beeline it for Tinseltown -- but she's praying L.A. power players will continue to shun him ... just like they did in the wake of his 1995 acquittal.

While Tanya says she has no control over who embraces him, she's really hoping Hollywood elites don't even think of welcoming him back ... but the cynic in her is sorta doubtful.

In Tanya's eyes, L.A. has a bad rep when it comes to honoring women ... and she tells us she wouldn't be surprised if they take O.J. in with open arms. That'd be a true shame, according to her, because she says O.J. not only killed Nicole but mistreated her well before that ... citing multiple reported incidents of abuse.